That night's secret

"The "nothing" in Muichiro means the "nothing" of incompetence.

A cold and sarcastic voice said, "So don't even think about becoming a swordsman. Just stay with your parents."

On the way up the mountain, two identical twins walked one in front and one behind. The one leading the group looked like the older brother, and at this moment he had a look of disgust on his face.

"But brother, Mr. Yuanyi said that we have the talent to be swordsmen." The younger brother looked aggrieved and tried to convince his brother, "And dad also said..."

"Shut up, why are you nagging?" Yuichiro said in a vicious tone, "You can't do anything, you are so useless, just stay with your parents!"

The harsh words made the young child very sad. He sobbed, rubbed his nose, and then followed silently.

This scene was familiar, yet strange. Muichiro closed his eyes and watched the two children walk away, but the next second, the scene in front of him changed.

"Wow, Dad and my brother are talking about me again. Dad also said -"

The crying child snuggled up to his parents who were smiling and kind, and was comforted by their gentle voices.

"Our Muichiro is the best, but I am worried about you. Besides, you are still young. When you grow taller, you can become swordsmen like Mr. Yuanyi."

"Really?"

"Dad! Muichiro is so useless, he definitely won't be able to do it well."

In response to the quarrel between the two children, the mother with a kind smile simply reached out and held both of them in her arms: "Whether it's Ichiro or Muichiro, they are both my best children."

The sky gradually darkened, and in the silent night, there was only a bright moon hanging high in the sky.

Tokito Muichiro looked up at the moon. He thought slowly but couldn't remember anything.

He watched that family live a dull and ordinary life, but the child with the same name as him was completely different from him.

〖Muichiro〗 can hide behind his mother, act coquettishly and quarrel with his brother at the same time. His father will arrange the household affairs, then sit leisurely under the tree and listen to them talk about their experiences of the day.

No...it's all different.

Tokito Muichiro opened his mouth to make a sound, and then found that the surroundings were filled with mist. His head began to ache, and the smiling father stretched out his hand to him.

"Muichiro? What are you doing out there?"

Those words were indeed spoken to him. Muichiro subconsciously followed the voice, but he quickly came to his senses.

His body moved skillfully, and as his hand fell on the hilt, the white blade came out of its sheath the next moment.

With just one strike of the knife, the figure in front of him shattered like bubbles. Everything around him changed again, and Muichiro held the knife tightly in his hand and ran quickly.

But the further he went, the heavier his limbs became. When he came to his senses, he was in a small room.

It was a blood demon technique and also an illusion. Muichiro reacted and subconsciously looked for the enemy's location.

But the familiar small house made him freeze in his tracks. He kept holding the knife, and an angry shout rang in his ears.

“Ahhh!”

If you follow the line of sight, you can see two young children huddled together in the corner of the house. The tatami and walls are all covered with glaring red.

The surrounding scenery changed, but as the master of the illusion, Muichiro did not stop it. He stood outside the door, but was still angry because of the bloody scene in the house.

His father made a living by chopping wood, and his mother took care of them at home. Life was not rich, but he and his brother were very satisfied.

But one cold day, my mother fell ill due to overwork, and my father went down the mountain to look for medicine but never returned.

It rained heavily that day, but a red-haired man came back with his father in the heavy rain.

The mother was saved, but still very weak. The father was very grateful to the red-haired swordsman and introduced him to them as Mr. Yuanyi, who had done them a favor.

It is said that my father had known Yuanyi very early, when he was very young. At that time, my young father was chased by a wild boar and lost his way in the mountains, and Yuanyi's appearance came at the right time.

Mr. Yuanyi always appears at night, and his earliest connection with him and his brother was when their mother gave birth.

Because the mother had an unexpected seizure before the due date, Mr. Yuanyi waited outside the door all night while the father left home to find a doctor.

My mother once said that the smell of blood seemed to have attracted wolves that night, and if it weren't for Mr. Yuanyi, they would have been attacked.

But Mr. Yuanyi is always very mysterious, and it seems that he only appears at night when they are in danger.

〖Muichiro〗 was very curious about Yuanyi, so he bravely grabbed the sleeve of the person in front of him that day. Water was dripping from his wet clothes and dripping down his wrists.

His skin is cold, but not as scary as his appearance. However, my brother is very resistant and says that Mr. Yuanyi is a weird man with scars.

The red-haired swordsman was very powerful, but he did not carry a sword. It was just that my father said that he had seen his skills when he was a child, so Yuanyi was a powerful swordsman.

So after daybreak, looking at Yuanyi who had been staying in the house, Muichiro bravely made a request, hoping to see his skills.

After a long silence, behind a valley sheltered from the sun, the red-haired man held a relatively straight branch and began to demonstrate in front of him.

"You have a talent for holding a knife." Yuanyi said, "But not now."

Regardless of their height and age, the heavy knife was a burden for the two children.

But from then on, Muichiro planted the seed of wanting to become a swordsman.

However, she was obviously envious of her brother who was good at romance at that time, but later she was very resistant and laughed at his wishful thinking.

But later, Muichiro realized that he was indeed delusional, and it would have been better if he had given up this idea earlier.

After nightfall, Mr. Yuanyi would appear. He seemed to have noticed that he was very interested in swordsmanship, so they agreed to visit on the same night of each month.

"Mr. Yuanyi may have something to do? Muichiro, don't wait any longer and go to bed first." The mother covered her lips and waved her hand.

〖Muichiro〗 felt a little disappointed, but he still walked in, looking back every few steps. He stared at the ceiling with his eyes closed, and after his parents fell asleep, he secretly pulled his brother's sleeve.

Not long after, the two brothers sneaked out the door. [Muichiro] smiled and said, "Brother, you are also looking forward to it, right? Mr. Yuanyi must be coming over soon. Should we take the initiative to look for him?"

Every time it was Yuan Yi who took the initiative to contact them, this time let them take the initiative!

"Shut up, you talk a lot of nonsense." Youzhilang said in disgust. He snorted coldly, "It's just because he brought my mother's medicine, otherwise I wouldn't care."

After that serious illness, my mother became weak and needed to take medicine frequently. So every time her period came, she would bring enough medicine.

The moon was very bright that night, and the path down the mountain was covered with dried fallen leaves, which made a crackling sound when stepped on.

The dark shadows of the trees swayed in the wind. Muichiro felt a little nervous and expectant, so he silently held his brother's hand tightly.

"Muichiro!"

After his brother's horrified reminder, Muichiro realized that the thing that came out of the bush was not an animal.

Clouds briefly obscured the moon, and cries of pain scared the birds in the trees, followed by angry roars.

Why is it my brother? Why is it my brother? He should be the one who died because of his willfulness.

What attacked them was an inhuman creature, but it could not be killed no matter what. After noticing that his children had left the house, the father went out with an axe in hand. Then, anger filled his chest and his eyes were bloodshot.

The enormous force chopped off the inhuman creature's limbs, and it was nailed to the ground as it cried out in pain.

〖Muichiro〗 saw his father's trembling hands, he saw his father's painful expression, and his brother who was embraced in his father's arms was so quiet.

"Brother?"

He forgot when the sun rose, and also forgot when Mr. Yuanyi came. He only knew that after the sun came out, the thing that hurt his brother struggled to disappear, and nothing was left.

That is a ghost, a ghost that eats people.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault! If it weren't for me, brother wouldn't... brother wouldn't..." Before he could finish his choking words, Muichiro was hugged tightly by his father.

The father who lost one child did not blame the other child. He just stroked Muichiro's head again and again with trembling hands.

The paper bag of herbs he was holding was stained with some blood. His father did not tell his mother who was in poor health. He said that Yuichiro had gone to learn swordsmanship from Mr. Yuanyi. Although his mother was surprised, she did not refuse.

To her, Mr. Yuanyi was very reliable, so she naturally felt at ease leaving her child to him.

This is the secret between them.

But as a mother, how could she not notice anything? At night when pretending to be asleep, Muichiro could often hear his mother crying from far away.

At the age of 16, he was introduced by Tokito Muichiro and joined the Demon Slayer Corps, and became a Pillar after two months.

The mission of the Demon Slayer Corps is to kill demons, but it is very difficult to find the traces of demons. It seems that the demons are afraid of something, and they are very cautious even at night.

After seven years, Kasumi-Hira [Tokito Muichiro] retired at the peak of his powers. Since then, no one knows where he went.

When he was 21, his mother finally died of illness. Muichiro knelt beside his mother's bed and saw her smiling and comforting him.

"We all know that Muichiro has been having a hard time. Muichiro, my child, I should be grateful that you are still by my side..."

The following year, his father, who was depressed, also passed away with his mother. At the age of 23, Muichiro retired from the Demon Slayer Corps and voluntarily became a demon.

He has killed many ghosts in the past seven years, but he has gradually realized that there are endless ghosts to kill.

As long as there is one ghost, new ghosts will continue to appear. Muichiro decided to challenge the ghost king, but whether it was the gap in strength or the complex relationship between ghosts, he felt despair.

When he fell to the ground, he saw Yuanyi again. Perhaps it was the dizziness caused by lack of blood in his brain, and he vaguely understood something.

"Turn me... into a ghost..."

The one he challenged was Upper Rank One. Although he had the strength to fight, human power was limited.

However, that Upper Rank One had many opportunities to kill him, but he showed mercy. Even though he fell down with injuries in the end, the injuries were not fatal.

〖Muichiro〗finally understood why his father told him that Mr. Yuanyi was not a bad person before he left. Although he was a ghost, he was also helping humans.

This was slightly different from what the Demon Slayer Corps taught him, but he didn't have time to think about it.

After that, the position of Upper Four in the ranks of the Twelve Demon Moons was finally replaced.